


Down Down Down (Into The Rabbit Hole)

by TinyBat



Series: The Ones You Choose [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, mischief of the sexy variety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-05
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-18 01:59:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/555621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyBat/pseuds/TinyBat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Swan wakes up in a room that isn't hers, still in her Halloween costume. Her morning gets more interesting from there.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Down Down Down (Into The Rabbit Hole)

**Author's Note:**

> The prequel/origin chapter/set up bit to "The Ones You Choose".  
> I have meant to do this for what feels like forever so I'm posting this now. I wanted a short intro piece to establish how everyone met so I have a reference point. If specific moments get mentioned later on that I think require expanding on, i'll put in another chapter.

A quiet knock woke a very groggy and sore Emma Swan out of a poor excuse for sleep. This wasn't her room, her sheets were white not purple. Her ceiling didn't have posters of european landmarks plastered over every square inch of it. Where was she? The knock sounded again and the door opened. A tired looking but unmistakably handsome young man wearing only boxers and a top hat held a water bottle and what looked like a container of painkillers out to her. 

"Oh good, you're awake. I was worried that i'd have to call someone. I found you out in the parking lot last night and brought you in here. No, please don't..." his sentence was cut off midway when Emma ripped the curtains open to see where she was. Her head was pounding and she felt like she had swallowed sandpaper and old carpets. 

"Who the hell are you? What dorm am I in and why aren't you wearing pants?!" She scrabbled off the bed and over to a thin mirror on the wall. Her clothes were still on, she couldn't see any bruising, hangover aside she didn't seem to have anything else wrong with her. "We didn't..." she asked through the hammering of blood in her ears.

"I'm Jefferson, you're in the Smith quad, and i'm not wearing pants because I slept on the floor so you could have the bed. You were blacked out when I found you and I couldn't ask you where you lived. No we didn't sleep together. I could put Casanova to shame but no, I didn't have my way with you Alice. You're safe and if you like, I can take you to the infirmary so you can get checked." Jefferson handed her a pair of sunglasses off of his desk. "You may want to use these." He shut the door quietly, picked up a loudly patterned button down off of a bedpost and shrugged it on.

"My name isn't Alice. It's Emma. Thank you for doing that. I was looking for someone I was supposed to meet here. I guess I had too much to drink before I started looking." Emma put on the sunglasses with a pair of shaking hands and grabbed the water bottle and pills her odd rescuer had set aside for her. 

"Your name was Alice until now..." 

Emma re-examined herself. She was in fact dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland. It was the only costume left on the rack and it was cheap. She wouldn't have minded being named Alice, but Emma wasn't bad either. Alice was a solid metaphor to use for her freshman experience thus far. "Right, the costume. Themed party. I was supposed to be meeting The White Rabbit there. I take it from the hat that you were going too?" Emma nodded at the hat still perched on Jeffersons head.

"Yep, Mad Hatter. I was going to go but found you instead. Public Safety ended up shutting it down around 2 and college parties aren't really my thing anyway. I was..." a loud banging on the door echoed painfully through Emma's skull and Jefferson rolled his eyes so hard he may have pulled a muscle. "Flawless timing."

"Jefferson Andrew Carroll you open this door right now or I am exercising my right as your best friend and coming in anyway!" came a voice from the other side of the unlocked door. Jefferson smiled at Emma and opened the door to find an older and very pretty brunette in sweatpants holding a coffee and tapping her foot impatiently. 

"Good morning to you too Belle. Thank you for learning how to knock after 18 years. I know i'm late for breakfast but I have a guest." The girl named Belle pushed past him and gave Emma a thorough and soul piercing once over. Emma stood up a little bit straighter and took Jeffersons sunglasses off, much to the protesting of every nerve in her body.

"And this is your guest? Her clothes are on. Who are you and what have you done with Jefferson?" quipped Belle to a smiling Jefferson.

"Yes, her name is Emma. She blacked out outside last night and I brought her here to stay until she woke up. She was headed to Victor's party, looking for the White Rabbit apparently. Of course her clothes are on. Yes I can be a bastard but i'm a bastard who firmly believes in consent and not having charges pressed." 

Emma finally managed to get her mouth working in conjunction with her brain and tried to keep the blistering hangover in check long enough to speak. "Hi, like he says, i'm Emma. Horrific hangover aside I'm okay. I should be going though. I have a rabbit to find. Tall brunette, bright red lipstick, white corset and stockings with a tail? If you see her, let her know that Emma is going to fill her bed with marshmallows. Thank you Jefferson, for being maybe the only gentleman on campus. Belle, it was nice meeting you too." Emma wobbled over to the door and saw white stocking clad legs sauntering out of a half opened door.

"Ruby!" grumbled Emma. It was just her luck that the wayward rabbit would be nearby the whole night and not have found her. Belle and Jefferson poked their heads out the door in time to see a tall man about Belle's age smile at Ruby. He like Jefferson was only in boxers and a shirt. Ruby turned and waved to Emma.

"Hi Em! You got lucky too! Twice?!" laughed the girl as she walked over. The man followed after her like a lamb. Ruby was tall enough without 6 inch heels but she wore them anyway. She was wearing them now and seemed completely hangover free. Bitch. "Oh, this is Graham. He was tending bar at the party last night. Is that where you found these two?" She flashed a mega-watt smile at Jefferson and gave Belle a look that could stop a train on a dime. Ruby wasn't the type to see gender as a barrier so long as stds weren't a problem.

"No, I didn't get lucky. And definitely not twice. I apparently passed out looking for you last night. Jefferson here found me and I stayed in his room. This is Belle, she just kind of showed up a few minutes ago. I have a hangover the size of England right now and I really want to change. Can we go?" Graham and Belle had stepped off to the side to talk, snippets of conversation indicated that they were friendly. Jefferson was still quite happily leaning against his door in a pantsless state.

"I'm good with going. We've all been introduced. I want breakfast. If we go now, we should be able to get good seats on the quad for the marathon of shame!" Jefferson looked to the rest of the group. For whatever reason, the pantsless hatter was hard to say no to.

Graham nodded and indicated his need for pants and Advil. He like Emma looked like he had a hangover, but he was dealing with it like a champion. "Sure, i'll be back in a minute!" He strode off and shut his door for a few moments and came back wearing sweats similar to Belle's.

"I'm in too! But I think Emma and I should change first. I'm all good for a walk of shame so long as it's other peoples. I take pride in my exploits." drawled Ruby. She alternated between looking at Graham and at Belle, neither of them seemed to mind. Ruby was a magnetic personality.

Emma saw no choice but to agree. There were worse ways to spend a morning, and everyone seemed really nice. She'd have to ask Ruby to come to the infirmary later though, just in case. It wasn't that she thought her shining knight was being dishonest, she was just thorough about her health. "I guess we're going to breakfast then. Ruby and I live in Shelley, so it's on the way off campus if anyone wants to go for horrific diner food." A college town without a greasy spoon was no college town at all. A few of the frat houses and college sponsored apartments were close enough for post Halloween shame-fests to be observed from behind a stack of pancakes and a large cup of coffee.

"So we escort you two lovely ladies to Shelley, let you change, and we all go watch other suffering college students. This is way better than suffering through a pre-coffee Jefferson by myself!" exclaimed a smiling Belle. Jefferson nudged her in the ribs with his elbow and she pushed him into the wall with a laugh. He had somehow acquired pants without anyone noticing his absence. The hat remained perched on his head. Ruby was still smiling and Graham just seemed happy to be up. 

Emma wondered if this odd group of people could be the proper beginning to her college experience. If so, she couldn't ask for anything better. She dressed for the part, chased the rabbit, and fell down the rabbit hole.


End file.
